


Andromeda

by masquev2



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-01-31 21:11:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18599500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masquev2/pseuds/masquev2
Summary: A re-telling of episode 1.17 It's A Trap.It's the same, only different.





	Andromeda

**Author's Note:**

> I adore this series exactly as it is; one room, one camera and clever scripts to deliver the off screen action. But sometimes my mind likes to imagine how those scenes might have played out otherwise, so I thought I would write it down. If it goes well I may think about doing some more and making this into a series.
> 
> Find me on tumblr: @masquev2

“Behold! Vampire Bait!” Laura announces as she looks straight into the webcam of her trusty laptop and presents her outfit of choice for the evening. It wasn’t her first outfit of the evening, which had been a dress that she had finally deemed too impractical for the activities that would most likely take place before the night was through. She had switched it out for a much more appropriate top and pants combination that still delivered the same impact. The shirt was the key; the fabric that floats as she moves her body designed to hypnotise, the off the shoulder cut revealing her throat and neck meant to entice and the cream colour to compliment her complexion intended to tempt, hopefully Carmilla would not be able to resist.

“Yeah, Danny took one look and said ‘you look like you’re about to flee your brooding lover across the Moors,’ which is accurate.” She quickly realises how that might sound to her audience and rushes to clarify the matter, “The fluffy sleeves thing, not the brooding lover thing, that’s not a thing,” she stops herself from talking when she strays dangerously close to protesting too much.

“So… the plan is to hit the party, hang for a while… lure Carmilla away so Danny and the Zetas can grab her. Not end up digested in the process. Fingers crossed on that last part.” She raises both hands into frame to show the index and middle fingers of each hand entwined.

About to reach forward and stop the recording she has a final thought, “Wish me luck.”

~

Flashing lights pulsed in time to the heavy beat of the music; deep reds casting grotesque shadows of writhing figures against the high stone walls of the Silas University buildings, cool blues reaching into the hidden corners of the quad and revealing the secrets within, warm yellows touching the sweat dampened skin of bodies pressed close together. Wisps of fog swirled and curled around dancers bopping along to American rock and Euro pop, resplendent in pastel suits, ripped punk attire or new romantic best. All to celebrate a decade that time wished to forget and attended by those who would never remember it.

In the shadows of the covered walkway that surrounded the quad Laura watched the party going on around her. The 1980s had been over for close to six years by the time that she had been born, but thanks to any number of her obsessions she was at least familiar with some of the music and culture of the time. She also considered it fortuitous that the only shirt she owned which would have any hope of inviting a creature of the night to attack her, paired with skinny stone washed jeans and shiny Doctor Martin boots, also lent itself to the theme of the evening. Now all she needed was the alleged creature of the night to attack her, but Carmilla was conspicuous in her absence.

For the third time Laura swept her gaze across the festivities, searching out her co-conspirators, making sure they were all in place and ready to act. Danny was the easiest to spot, not just because of her height and her flame red hair, but because she had chosen to remain close to Laura. She was currently breaking up a fight between a couple of Summer Society sisters who after one too many Fizzy Dagons had embarked on a show of strength that had resulted in a thrown table and several smashed glasses, but she still managed to catch Laura’s eye and give her a small nod of affirmation. Kirsch was in the middle of the dance floor busting some sweet moves much to the delight of an adoring Sarah Jane; Laura trusted that when the time came he would be ready to perform his sacred Zeta Omega Mu duty and ‘protect a hottie’. Will seemed content surrounded by several giggling girls who were hanging on his every word. Perry had lasted all of twenty minutes before producing a garbage sack from nowhere and gathering up discarded plastic cups. And finally LaFontaine sat quietly in a corner with a large duffle bag in the chair next to them, a duffle bag that Laura assumed carried whatever the group might need to capture and contain the suspected vampire. That was if the suspected vampire ever showed up!

It had been nearly an hour since Laura had descended from the dorm room and joined the party and nearly an hour of doubting her chosen course of action. It had all seemed so clear when they had come up with the idea the previous night; Carmilla was linked to all of the missing girls, and they needed to get the truth from her, by whatever means necessary. But later that night when Laura had stumbled into the perfect opportunity to put the plan into action, she had been treated to a wistful smile from Carmilla and a shy acceptance of her invitation to gaze at the stars. And all of it left Laura deeply conflicted over what she had to do.

Weighed down by her warring feelings Laura slumped against the pillar behind her. The uneven brickwork pressed uncomfortably into her flesh and the cold stone sent a shiver through her body. But a stronger shiver seized her when husky words caressed her naked shoulder before reaching her ears.

“Don’t you look like a virgin sacrifice?”

Laura gasped, even placed a hand over her suddenly racing heart, as she turned to find Carmilla behind her. The other girl was slouched elegantly against the same stone pillar as Laura had been as though just waiting for the right time to announce her presence.

It took a moment for Laura to get over her initial shock and move onto something that she absolutely did not want to label as delight that Carmilla had actually turned up for their pseudo date, but then she finally took note of what Carmilla was wearing. Along with her trademark leather pants she wore a black satin corset with intricately embroidered patterns upon it. The boning through the torso accented the flare of the hips and the swell of the chest. It finished with dark straps that cut across pale shoulders making a contrast with the skin that was as striking as it was harsh.

And Laura was staring. With great effort she dragged her eyes upwards to meet Carmilla’s, “I’m not the one in a corset, which…” there was no point in trying to deny her reaction, “wow.”

The smirk that graced Carmilla’s lips was far too satisfied, making it easy for Laura to roll her eyes and turn her attention back to the party. “I was beginning to think you weren’t going to show,” Laura tried to affect an annoyed tone, an attempt to hide the part of her that would have been disappointed if Carmilla hadn’t. She had to push aside these newly awakened feelings, feelings that had been making her stomach flutter from the moment she had noticed Carmilla’s behaviour towards her take a turn for the more flirtatious; those feelings were futile. Not only was Carmilla probably a criminal, she was also possibly a vampire, and any fluffy feelings towards the aforementioned criminal/vampire were simply a distraction from the mission to bring the missing girls home safely.

Laura bolstered her defences, fortified her determination, nothing could weaken her resolve…

“I had a few things I needed to take care of first,” the tone was teasing, the words full of mystery, begging Laura to ask for more.

And she did, “Such as?”

Laura wasn’t expecting a confession of wrongdoing or a declaration of intention, but she also wasn’t expecting Carmilla to appear in front of her and for her entire world to narrow to the captivating creature before her. Had she really never noticed how beautiful the other girl was? How the dark depths of her brown eyes drew you in and held you fast? How the quirk of her perfect lips both excited and scared every nerve in her body until she didn’t know what to make of the feeling? Surely it was some kind of vampiric trick; Carmilla had her in thrall or under a glamour, there was absolutely no way that Laura was experiencing this all-consuming desire without an external force influencing her.

“Come with me and I’ll show you,” Carmilla held out her hand for Laura to take. The invitation hung heavy in the air between them, but Carmilla waited patiently for Laura to make her decision.

It was all part of the plan Laura told herself as she slipped her hand into Carmilla’s and tried to ignore how right and how wonderful it felt to have Carmilla’s fingers tangling with her own. She allowed the other girl to pull her deeper into the shadows of the covered walkway, between stone pillars and beneath wooden rafters interwoven with creeping ivy and white jasmine. Shafts of moonlight filtered through the gaps to light their way, dancing across their figures as they moved away from the party, away from the crowd and towards…

“Where are we going?” Laura whispered just loud enough to be heard over the fading music behind them.

A few steps ahead of her Carmilla slowed and glanced back to Laura. For the briefest of moments, so brief that Laura would believe she had imagined it, Carmilla seemed almost nervous, vulnerable in a way that she had never seen on the other girl before. But all too soon the shy smile morphed into something much more seductive, the usual swagger firmly back in place. She tugged playfully at Laura’s hand, “I promised you the stars.”

And, oh, how Laura wanted to see the stars.

It was all part of the plan she told herself, but nowhere in the plan was she supposed to fall.

The smile that graced Laura’s lips was so incandescent in beauty that Carmilla was pleased that after their late night talk by candle light she had taken the time to plan their date with the stars. The hand clasped in hers squeezed tightly as Laura practically skipped into movement again, and with a giddy feeling that Carmilla had not felt in well over a century they stole away into the night.

The walkway curved naturally to the right but Carmilla guided Laura towards the wall on the left. What initially appeared to be a dead end carefully concealed an entrance, craftily hidden by well-placed walls and sprawling vines of ivy. The passage opened up into a small courtyard; high stone walls enclosed the area but left a view of the night sky that was breath taking. The smell of the jasmine mingled pleasantly with lavender and rosemary and a dozen other herbs that filled the space. And in the middle of the courtyard stood a decorative fountain, the centre piece an adaptation of Simon-Philippe Poirier’s _The Three Graces_ ; water cascaded in rivulets over their naked bodies to the stone basin below. It had always been one of Carmilla’s favourite places on the university grounds, a small oasis of calm where she could retreat to whenever she needed. It had been her secret until tonight, until she had decided to share it with Laura.

Carmilla turned to her companion and watched as the younger girl explored the courtyard with her eyes; she could see the same awe on Laura’s face that she imagined had been on her own the first time she had discovered it. The serenity as she closed her eyes to inhale the calming fragrance, to listen to the soothing sound of the water.

When Laura opened her eyes she found Carmilla watching her; self-consciously she shifted her gaze away, “Oh my god! Is that Champagne?”

On the edge of the stone basin stood an antique pewter ice bucket, condensation gathered on the surface and an opened bottle of Moet and Chandon Imperial Brut Champagne chilling inside; two empty flute glasses waiting beside it. Carmilla lifted the bottle from the ice with one hand, held the two flutes in her other hand and expertly poured them each a glass of the golden alcohol. After settling the bottle back in the ice bucket she held out a glass for Laura.

“Where did you even find that?” Laura asked suspiciously even as she took the glass from Carmilla’s hand.

Carmilla almost fumbled the exchange when Laura’s fingers brushed over the back of her hand; it was the stuff of the power ballads playing at the party and not the growing affection she was feeling that was to blame for her acting like the blushing girl she had once been and not the centuries old seductress she now was.

She hid the tremble by clinking their glasses together. “I have my methods.” An enigmatic answer was better than confessing that she had broken into the wine cellar beneath Mothers apartment to pilfer the exquisite vintage; and that she had been delayed reaching the party whilst trying to avoid Mother and having to answer questions about why she was wasting such an expensive reserve on a mere ‘target’.

Raising the flute to her lips she watched over the rim as Laura took a sip from her own glass, amused when the girl pulled it away and gazed at the contents as though she hadn’t expected it to taste quite so good. Carmilla wondered whether she could detect the subtle flavours of cereal and nut beneath the more powerful apple and peach. No matter, just seeing Laura mouth the word ‘wow’ was pleasure enough.

“They served Champagne at the first party I ever attended,” Carmilla immediately regretted her slightly old fashioned turn of phrase; she may as well have admitted that it had been a ball held in honour of her 18th birthday by her father who was keen to put her on display for prospective suitors.

“You say that like it was a hundred years ago,” Laura seized on her chance to press the subject of Carmilla’s age, she was still on a mission to find the missing girls, regardless of how charismatic the suspect proved to be.

“Feels like more than that,” Carmilla sighed as she contemplated the bubbles rising to the surface of her drink creating the cordon around the edge of the glass, “Like something seen underwater, from a great distance.”

Carmilla shook her head, an effort to dispel the memories and the melancholy that had settled upon her, “God, I’m a nostalgic idiot tonight.” When she looked to Laura she found the other girl watching her with something that wasn’t quite sympathy, perhaps quiet compassion, before she moved away to allow Carmilla a chance to gather her scattered thoughts.

But following Laura with her eyes was all she needed to bring herself back to the here and now, to this moment with just the two of them, with a soundtrack of babbling water and a backdrop of endless stars.

As she moved around the fountain Laura trailed the fingertips of her left hand over the smooth stone of the basin and Carmilla noticed that her wrist was unadorned by the charm she had given her, she should have chastised Laura for the negligence but for tonight it didn’t really matter. She had infused the charm with her own blood, warning others of her kind that Laura had been claimed, but Laura didn’t need to know that detail. The only person Laura wasn’t protected from was Carmilla herself, and Laura definitely didn’t need to know that detail.

On the other side of the fountain Laura raised her head to look up at the stars, always in awe of how much more was visible here in Styria compared to back home in Toronto. She was familiar with the constellations of Ursa Major and Cassiopeia because her father had taught them to her on a camping trip; it had been a lesson in how to locate Polaris, the North Star, and thus allowing her to navigate if she ever found herself in the middle of nowhere without a compass – she had only been six at the time but she still remembered the lesson. After they had safely navigated their way home Laura had found herself drawn more to the stories behind the names of the constellations than the clusters of stars themselves.

“Do you see Andromeda?” Carmilla’s voice reached out to her, a force stronger than the pull of true north.

Turning her attention to Carmilla Laura raised an exasperated eyebrow at the question, “You mean the Virgin Sacrifice?”

Carmilla breathed out a low chuckle at the response, her head dropping back with her face turned to the sky. The moonlight dusted across her pale skin making it practically glow. Laura could scarcely take her eyes from the sight, especially when Carmilla began to walk towards her.

No, not walk, prowl.

“I mean,” she began and gestured vaguely upwards with her glass of Champagne, “the fair maiden chained to a rock as an offering to appease the wrath of the gods and prevent the destruction of her lands by the sea monster Cetus.” She concluded her explanation as she reached Laura’s side, stopping mere inches away and casually leaning a hip against the fountain, so close that she caught the hitch in Laura’s breath at her nearness.

“Where is she?” Laura was thankful that Carmilla was standing right next to her when she could manage no more than a whisper.

Reaching around Laura’s back Carmilla carefully set her Champagne flute down on Laura’s other side. The move put Carmilla directly behind the other girl; she placed her hands on the stone basin either side of Laura’s hips and rested her chin on Laura’s uncovered shoulder, enjoying the small shudder that ran through the body in front of her. With their cheeks pressed together Carmilla adjusted them to look slightly east of Cassiopeia and then pointed skywards, “Do you see that bright star?” She waited a moment for Laura to follow the trajectory of her finger, when she felt a nod of the head next to her own she continued, “That’s Alpheratz and it makes the point of Andromeda’s head. The rest of her body is made up of the stars to the left that form the shape of a V.” She swept her hand across the sky, spreading her fingers to encompass those stars.

Laura could see the stars but not the image, not the story. Perhaps it was the terror of being in the clutches of a blood-sucking vampire who was possibly involved in the abduction of several students, or maybe it was the thrill of being wrapped in the arms of a frustratingly enigmatic girl, who appeared to see her as no one else had before, that was making it so difficult for her.

The first; Laura really hoped it was the first; otherwise she was in real trouble.

“That doesn’t look like a fair maiden chained to a rock.” Laura scoffed in an attempt to dismiss the tension, whatever its source. But it was all for nothing when Carmilla’s right arm curled across the front of her body and delicate fingers trailed up her neck and across her throat to rest along her jaw. With gentle pressure Carmilla tilted Laura’s head to the right, changing the orientation of her view and bringing clarity to the pattern of stars. Her imagination embellished the details of a young woman, arms raised and wrists shackled, hair wild around a face that was defiant, belief that this was not her ultimate fate. “She’s beautiful.”

“She is,” Carmilla was no longer looking at the stars but at Laura, at her very own Andromeda. “And that was why Perseus was willing to risk life and limb to keep her from harm.”

Laura’s eyes fell from the sky to meet Carmilla’s. For several seconds they just gazed at one another in silence; neither one knowing what to say, or if they should say anything at all. But the intimate moment was shattered when Laura’s cell phone began to ring. She twisted away to reach for the offending object in the back left pocket of her jeans, but a strong grip on her wrist stopped her from retrieving it.

“Maybe I don’t feel like sharing you right now.” Carmilla whispered desperately. When Laura had turned her head away Carmilla had been met with enticing view of Laura’s neck and throat. She could see the twitch of the pulse just as she could hear the blood rushing beneath the surface. Her mouth watered as her fangs ached to split through her gums and pierce tender flesh to sate her hunger. But her true desire for this girl was not that type of hunger; what Carmilla wanted from Laura was infinitely more dangerous. As her eyes shifted from their usual dark brown to emerald green Carmilla dropped her head to Laura’s shoulder, hiding her true nature until she could calm the creature within.

The incessant jingle of the cell phone ceased. The absence of the obnoxious ringtone left only the distant music, the continuous murmur of water, and the harsh gasping breaths of the young woman in her arms. Laura was afraid; and that scared Carmilla.

“God, what am I doing?” She loosened her hold on Laura’s wrist. Gently she began to stroke her fingertips across the soft skin to soothe any hurt she had caused and in doing so found the action also soothed her soul.

“Naïve provincial girl,” Carmilla reminded herself of Laura’s innocence and forced the raging hunger inside of her to abate. “Entirely too tight wound,” a memory came to mind of Laura all riled up and it was enough to make her eyes revert to their natural brown. “Such a cliché, I ought to know better,” and finally she could raise her head, safe in the knowledge that she was once again a girl and not a beast.

She made to step away but Laura’s wrist twisted in her slack grip and tangled the fingers of their left hands together, keeping Carmilla close with her arm still wrapped around her back. Laura’s harsh breaths and rapid heartbeat were for an entirely different reason now, daring Carmilla to believe that the growing affection she felt towards the younger girl was returned.

“And yet,” keeping their hands joined at Laura’s hip she curled her arm, turning their bodies towards one another. She brought her right hand up to cradle Laura’s face and when honey brown eyes lifted Carmilla lost herself in them. Lost herself to a spirit unlike any she had ever known before, bursting with strength and purity and determination and life, she wanted to weep for the beauty she saw but could never speak of, “There’s something about you.”

Carmilla broke away from the gaze that could render her helpless only for her eyes to fall to Laura’s mouth, to perfect lips she longed to kiss. She would have been embarrassed by such want had she not glanced up and caught Laura in a similar state.

“Maybe it’s my…” Laura breathed, but they would never know what that something might be as the distance between them disappeared, as their eyes closed, as their lips almost touched…

But the warm brush of Champagne flavoured kisses never came.

Instead Carmilla felt a searing pain against the side of her face; it burned deep, racing through her veins and setting her blood on fire. She staggered backwards, pressing her right hand to her face as Laura was torn from her embrace. The agony and the loss woke the beast and Carmilla turned to attack and defend.

No longer hiding Carmilla snapped back to face her assailant in all her vampiric glory. Her green eyes flashed dangerously and her fangs gleamed menacingly as she took a step closer to her target. But Danny stood her ground, a silver crucifix clutched in her outstretched hand, no doubt a perfect match for the brand that now adorned Carmilla’s cheek.

Danny held her other hand out at her side, a gesture of protection for the girl behind her. The sight of Laura, her beautiful eyes now full of fear where only moments before they had been filled with want, gave Carmilla pause. “Laura, I…” She made to move towards the younger girl but Danny moved too, thrusting the crucifix forward and causing Carmilla to flinch backwards.

“Get away from her,” Danny warned as she pushed Laura more securely behind her.

“You gonna make me Red?” Carmilla’s tone was both amused and scornful. She stood before them black as the pit and terrible as the night, the demon that they had clearly suspected her of being and yet still thought they could take her, how very naïve of them.

Despite the fear that rolled off of her in waves the corner of Danny’s lips quirked up in a cocky smirk,   “Not just me.”

As if the words were a call to arms Perry and LaFontaine appeared flanking Danny on either side. The rustle of foliage as bodies moved through the herb garden and the heavy tread of boots against the stone of the courtyard confirmed that they were not the only ones.

Carmilla was surrounded and outnumbered. Suddenly in danger in the one place she had always thought she was safe. Betrayal, the likes of which she had not experienced in more than a century, settled deep in her soul and she searched out Laura, “Was it all just a trap?”

The last shred of hope that Carmilla had clung to was lost when she saw the shame upon Laura’s features. Something flickered in the honey coloured eyes that couldn’t meet her own, something that looked like regret. The lips she had almost brushed with her own parted and Carmilla waited for an answer, any answer, but a ragged breath was all that came out.

Desperate to know it for the truth, to hear the words that Laura tried to voice, Carmilla forgot to be mindful of her surroundings. She felt the presence at her back only a moment before a rope was wrapped around her, pinning her arms to her sides. She let out an animalistic growl and looked down to see her flesh burning where the rope touched it, the fibres having been doused in holy water.

She knew it was William who held her captive; knew his smell, his strength and the smug sound of his voice that whispered in her ear, “Poor Kitty.” She chaffed at his oft used nickname for her and tried to break free, but the rope only bit deeper into her arms as he pulled it tight. “Did you really think she liked you?”

It was exactly the wrong thing to say to her so soon after she had been played for a lovesick fool. Carmilla was older than him and therefore much stronger and more powerful; she shed the last vestiges of her humanity and allowed the thing inside of her to take over. She threw her head backwards; there was a satisfying crunch and the rope fell to the ground as poor William covered his face with his hands. Carmilla turned to him and took the advantage; reaching out she wrapped a single hand around his throat and pulled him closer, “Bad move Willy Boy.” Using only a fraction of her strength she thrust forward and threw her ersatz little brother across the courtyard.

Several metres away he fell towards the ground, arms outstretched to break his fall. The fingerless leather gloves may have been enough to protect his hands from the holy water soaked rope but they couldn’t protect him from the force with which he impacted the ground. The shock travelled along his arm and into his shoulder and finally the pressure proved too much. There was a loud snap as his clavicle broke. Will landed in a heap on the stone and didn’t move.

Carmilla only had a moment to revel in her victory before every eye in the courtyard was focused on her. She had taken down one of the mighty Zeta Omega Mu brothers and each one of them would take the slight personally.

It was Kirsch who rallied them, “Get her!”

Laura stumbled as Danny pushed her further away from the brawl. She would have fallen had Perry not been there to steady her. She was only guessing that it was Perry because she found herself unable to turn away from the fight.

She looked on as one of the Zetas swung a baseball bat which connected solidly with Carmilla’s right side, certain that what they were doing was the right thing, and that subduing Carmilla was the only way to get information about Betty and Elsie, Natalie and SJ. But when Carmilla dodged a punch and lashed out with one of her own Laura felt the guilt twisting in her gut for tricking the other girl and luring her into this ambush.

But it was an ambush that Carmilla appeared to be winning. More bodies lay upon the ground, either out for the count or wishing they were. Only Kirsch and Danny remained on their feet, and even they looked a little worse for wear.

In the very corner of her vision Laura caught movement and she finally turned her attention from the fight as one of the previously downed figures stood, and did so far too gracefully for the damage that had been inflicted upon them. It was Will and Laura could only assume that it was adrenalin that allowed him to ignore the pain he must have been in considering what had happened to him. He was focused completely on Carmilla and Laura was sure she had never seen that level of hatred directed at someone before. He moved, charging towards the fray with a speed that didn’t seem possible. He came in with a low tackle from behind, wrapping an arm around Carmilla’s hips and lifting her from the ground and then slamming her down on the cold unforgiving stone.

In that moment it seemed to Laura that the whole world simply froze. All sound silenced, all commotion ceased. Carmilla lay prostrate on the ground unmoving, while Danny, Kirsch and Will stood over her as still as statues; a horrific tableau of anger, hatred and fear.

But just the mere twitch of Carmilla’s fingertips brought the world crashing back; the heavy bass of distant music, the gentle burble of water close by and a low rumbling growl from Carmilla’s throat as she began to push herself up jolted the others back into action. Danny lunged towards the prone girl, placing her right knee at the base of Carmilla’s spine and using her weight to keep the struggling vampire down. Kirsch had retrieved the discarded rope and was scrambling to capture Carmilla’s hands so that he could bind them. Even LaFontaine was finally in motion having pulled a second rope from their duffle bag and moved to secure Carmilla’s legs.

Had Carmilla still been human the impact with the ground would have forced the breath from her lungs, but that was the only thing she could be thankful for. She could still feel pain and she was certain there wasn’t a part of her body that didn’t ache. But the pain was nothing in comparison to the humiliation of being taken down by a bunch of toddlers and a baby vampire, she couldn’t let that happen. Her animal was waking, longing to be free, allowed to rip and tear and claw, to survive. Pressure on her back drove her downwards, hands clutched at her flailing limbs; they wanted to restrain her, cage her, she had to fight, had to escape.

She kicked out, thankful when her foot found a target and LaFontaine was propelled backwards, their head smashing into the edge of the fountains stone basin. She felt guilty at the action, she actually kind of liked the mad scientist, but only a little bit guilty as she was fairly certain that this whole suicidal plan was probably their idea in the first place.

Before Kirsch could get a firm grip on her hands Carmilla swung her arm back and up, her elbow making contact with Danny’s eye. She felt absolutely no guilt for this deed, the mad scientist may have been the brains but the lanky red head was most definitely the ring leader of the operation. She delighted in the cry of pain that erupted from the nauseatingly righteous interloping warrior champion, but once again her triumph was short lived.

At first it felt like a pin prick between her shoulder blades, then like two deep cuts in her flesh as the crucifix was pressed down on her back. Pure agony coursed through her body; liquid fire in her blood, electricity along her nerves, jarring her bones and leaving her skin raw. She raised her face to the sky and roared into the night, then finally her head fell heavily to the ground. Her ferocious cat reduced to a meek kitten, her fight was lost.

For the second time that night all of Laura’s attention was centred on Carmilla’s completely still form. If she hadn’t seen with her own eyes that Carmilla was indeed a vampire the absence of respiration would lead her to believe the girl was dead. She watched Danny gather slack arms and bind them she suddenly feared that Carmilla might be deader. They needed her alive, they needed her undead Laura corrected herself, if they were to get answers.

But answers at what cost? What had they done? What if it was all just coincidence and conjecture? The walls of Silas University held many mysteries. Carmilla being a vampire could just be another in a long list of oddities, her association with the girls might be pure happenstance and they had taken the pieces and put them together without looking at the picture.

Laura was still desperately searching for some sign that Carmilla was alive, or less dead, but it seemed she was the only one among them that held such concern. She was vaguely aware of the discussion between Danny, LaFontaine and Kirsch about where they should keep the prisoner. Lafontaine was making a case for the BioLab, while Kirsch offered up the bottling room at the Zeta House, and Danny put forward the stables by the Summer Society department. Behind her Laura could male out Perry attempting to convince Will that he should seek medical attention for his collar bone but his only concern was getting back to the party so she let their bickering fade into the background. At last it was decided that Danny’s suggestion of the stables would be where they kept Carmilla. It was a fair distance from the main school buildings and the other residents were unlikely to report them. With the decision made Kirsch reached down and hauled Carmilla to her feet.

The feeble groan that fell from Carmilla’s lips was a most welcome sound to Laura’s ears, it allowed the guilt that had held her heart in a vicelike grip since their near kiss to lessen but only slightly and only for a moment. Standing, but only by the grace of her captors, Carmilla struggled to lift her head but her eyes managed to find Laura’s with ease. There was a wealth of pain in those eyes now dulled by Laura’s betrayal; there was no anger or hatred, but there was sadness and a resignation as though Carmilla had expected this all along.

A second brother, Laura thought his name was Theo, helped Kirsch to drag Carmilla from the courtyard. Laura forced herself to watch until they were gone from her sight, punishing herself as though it could compare to the torture they had wrought upon Carmilla. It was a stupid thought but it was all she had.

She felt Danny, LaFontaine and Perry behind her and knew they were expecting something, a victory speech or soliloquy of justice, but she didn’t have it in her right now. She managed to sum up their achievement in just two words, “Vampire. Captured.”

She needed to forget whispered words and teasing smiles and almost kisses and remember traumatised girls and missing students and unanswered questions. With a deep breath and a forced smile Laura turned to the rest of her team, “Guys, we did it. Now we’ll unpod SJ and Natalie, we’ll find Betty and…”

A scream pierced the night and Laura couldn’t shake the feeling that she had been very, very wrong.


End file.
